Big shakeup in AP college football poll; Utah, BYU get votes

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Alabama and Florida State hold the top two spots in the first BCS standings of the season. Oregon was a close third behind second-place Florida State.

The Seminoles (.9348 BCS average) are coming off their biggest win of the season, a 51-14 victory at previously unbeaten Clemson.

The Ducks (.9320) have only played one team that was ranked at the time, but could get a boost in the next two weeks with games against UCLA and at Stanford.

Ohio State is a more distant fourth, followed by Missouri in the standings released Sunday night.

The top two teams in the final standings after the end of the regular season play in the Rose Bowl for the national title in January.

Alabama is a comfortable No. 1 on the strength of being top-ranked by a wide margin in both the USA Today coaches' poll and Harris poll. The two-time defending champion Crimson Tide are second in the computer ratings.

If the Tide can stay unbeaten, they should reach the BCS championship game for the third straight year and for the fourth time in five seasons.

The polls count for two-thirds of a BCS grade.

Florida State is No. 1 in the computer ratings and third in each poll. Oregon is second in the polls and fourth in the computers.

The race between the Ducks and Florida State is shaping up to be a close one if both keep winning. The Seminoles still must play unbeaten Miami, rival Florida and potentially in the ACC championship game, which could be a rematch with Miami or maybe a game against Virginia Tech (6-1).

In addition to Oregon's next two tough games, the Ducks play Oregon State and potentially the Pac-12 title game against perhaps UCLA or Arizona State.

Only twice since the BCS started in 1998 have the top two teams in the first standings played in the title game.

The BCS is in its final season. It will be replaced by a four-team playoff next season. 

The BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Harris Interactive, USA Today Coaches and Computer polls. Team percentages are derived by dividing a team's actual voting points by a maximum 2625 possible points in the Harris Interactive Poll and 1550 possible points in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Six computer rankings are used to determine the overall computer component. The highest and lowest ranking for each team is dropped, and the remaining four are added and divided to produce a Computer Rankings Percentage. The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking accounts for schedule strength in its formula.

Harris USA Today Computer BCS

Rk Pts Pct Rk Pts Pct Rk Pct Avg Pv

1. Alabama 1 2615 .9962 1 1544 .9961 2 .960 .9841 

2. Florida St. 3 2401 .9147 3 1410 .9097 1 .980 .9348 

3. Oregon 2 2520 .9600 2 1482 .9561 4 .880 .9320 

4. Ohio St. 4 2321 .8842 4 1382 .8916 5 .790 .8553 

5. Missouri 6 2026 .7718 7 1184 .7639 3 .930 .8219 

6. Stanford 8 1952 .7436 8 1117 .7206 6 .760 .7414 

7. Miami 7 2008 .7650 6 1186 .7652 10 .630 .7200 

8. Baylor 5 2038 .7764 5 1255 .8097 12 .550 .7120 

9. Clemson 10 1616 .6156 10 913 .5890 9 .670 .6249 

10. Texas Tech 9 1662 .6331 9 981 .6329 11 .600 .6220 

11. Auburn 15 1105 .4210 17 537 .3465 7 .750 .5058 

12. UCLA 11 1323 .5040 11 710 .4581 14 .480 .4807 

13. LSU 12 1212 .4617 13 688 .4439 15 .460 .4552 

14. Virginia Tech 19 841 .3204 19 499 .3219 8 .680 .4408 

15. Oklahoma 14 1110 .4229 12 695 .4484 16 .390 .4204 

16. Texas A&M 13 1177 .4484 15 622 .4013 18 .250 .3666 

17. Fresno St. 18 920 .3505 18 532 .3432 17 .320 .3379 

18. N. Illinois 21 518 .1973 22 298 .1923 13 .520 .3032 

19. Oklahoma St. 17 951 .3623 13 688 .4439 28 .000 .2687 

20. Louisville 16 1046 .3985 16 571 .3684 28 .000 .2556 

21. South Carolina 20 673 .2564 20 468 .3019 26 .090 .2161 

22. Michigan 22 415 .1581 23 268 .1729 21 .160 .1637 

23. UCF 25 238 .0907 25 151 .0974 19 .230 .1394 

24. Nebraska 23 414 .1577 21 385 .2484 28 .000 .1354 

25. Oregon St. 27 168 .0640 27 91 .0587 20 .190 .1042 

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